Sunday, December 15, 2013

MaccaX Triathlon Race Report

Ok sports fans we last left off with me
being lulled to sleep with the soothing sounds of a DJ battle vibrating my
room.

Race Day! MaccaX Triathlon in Nevis

1500m ocean swim – no wetsuit

60k Bike ride with the 5k “Anaconda” hill,
steep enough to be standing most of it.

10k Run….

Alarm goes off race morning, luckily heard
it over the racket going on outside.That’s right the party was still going strong at 6am.Lack of sleep be damned, last race of the
year it was time to go hard and close out my first full season with a
bang.

Walked over to transition and bikes were racked
by first come first serve so I picked a prime spot for Stiletto to wait for me
until I was ready to unleash her on Anaconda hill.

Macca walks up to transition and first
thing he says says, “You look tired.”Geez thanks!With everything
ready to go, I wandered off, put in my headphones and took a quick nap by the
water.Feeling revived I head down to
the water.

Ok maybe I do look a little tired...

It was weird not having to put on a
wetsuit, I’ve never raced without one.The good news is usually when I put it on my HR shoots up into the
stratosphere so I was a lot more calm standing on the start line. Some chit chat and a good luck from Macca it was time to go.

First two cans (buoys) were massive and
white, so I managed to find those ones ok, the 3rd was an itty bitty
black one, not so easy to see! Unfortunately some foggy goggles had me stopping
a few times and going a lot of extra distance….well foggy goggles and my
terrible sighting ability, definitely going to be doing more open water work!

Ok out of the water, run up the beach and I
was so excited to get on my bike.A hard
bike ride was just what I needed.Its
always a question of how your legs will feel race day, last week it was a
disappointing flat feeling..Not
today!

Legs just wanted to go, so I reigned them
in.Plan was first loop high end of 70.3
watts, 2nd loop go hard.I
felt like I was soft pedaling out of transition my legs felt so good but I was
right on target.Time to do some
climbing!The hill is a pretty constant
incline with some little flat sections but averaging 7% according to my Garmin
file.I was able to sit right in my watt
range going up so I knew it wouldn’t kill my legs for the run.I definitely didn’t spin up it, it was too
steep most of the time, but was able to keep at a comfortably hard effort and
keep HR under control.I couldn’t
believe how good I felt 30 watts higher than the week before but it felt
comfortable!I had a little boost along
the way at one of the steeper parts had a local kid run along side me cheering
as I went :)

Then came the descents!It made the climb more than worth it.Rolling with screaming down hills with some
curves to keep it interesting.I was
grinning like an idiot most of this ride, I loved the tough beautiful course.I wasn’t even feeling the heat!

And then it started not going so well…the
sound of rims on road is never fun but this was my first time experiencing it
in a race.Crap!The race team was so accommodating and got me
an extra tube the night before since I had blown through my other ones so I
pulled off my tire and set about swapping for the spare tube.Surprisingly calm I managed to get it back on
check that everything was ready to go and get back to racing.I had lost some time, wasn’t sure how much
since my Garmin auto paused but it couldn’t have been much.

Ok back on the road and back up to
speed.Until…that now too familiar
sound…rims on pavement.I would come to
learn that there was a leak around the valve on the tube….so it didn’t hold air.At this point I was over 3 miles away from
the transition area and all out of tire tubes, so I started walking back,
clicking along in my bike shoes.There
may have been a few words that my mom would scold me for yelling
expressing as I trudged back.

That was the end of my race day.My first DNF.I ran into Greg (CEO of Nevis Tourism) on my hike back to transition and
he was kind enough to take my wounded bike off my hands and walk back with
me.We got to talking about the course
and I mentioned how I would love to have my motorcycle on those roads and he
said they were trying to get motorcycle racing to the island!It would be so much fun to take on that
island on a motorcycle :D

Unfortunately I didn’t get to take on the
run course, soo I don’t have much information about it.From what I heard it was a variety of terrain
and it got hot by the end of it!

I did get to see the race unfold from the
sidelines cheering people in and seeing Macca taking the win comfortably.Thankfully the race was well prepared with
cold beer at the finish line that helped ease the pain a bit :p

Macca takes the win easily!

One reason to do this race…the prizes!Under Armour sponsored the race and had plenty
of great swag at the finish line.Prizes
included backpacks, shirts AND a pair of the same UA Speedformshoes that Macca races in!

Macca had to head off the island right
after the race so there wasn’t the usual post race big chain ring party, but next year with the
triathlon taking over the island I’m sure there will be one hell of an after
party!

My last night on the island was a lot more
comfortable, I was comp’d a night at the Four Seasons and it was luxury!I was also given a pair of the UA Speedform
shoes to put to the pavement and loved how comfortable they were!I’m getting decked out in UA swag lately, luv
it.

UA Swag- Finally tried the shoes, luv them!

Good Bye Nevis...I will be back!

I will be back.I need redemption on this island, and that is
one of the most fun bike courses I’ve done, and those flats pissed me off.First full race season is officially over, I’m going to take some down
time and freshen up before I go back at it.No plans nothing on the calendar…feels weird not having every day
planned around training!